Sun Tzu, Adam Smith, and Hippocrates walk into Whole Foods. By chance, each goes to the cheesemonger’s counter. The woman says, “Thanks guys for wearing masks and keeping social distance.”
Sun Tzu rips off his mask and growls, “I only wear this thing because my wife makes me. President Trump has said that we are at war against Covid 19. Fighting an enemy while wearing masks is foolhardy.”
Hippocrates frowns. “Mr. Tzu, we’re not fighting a war. We’re dealing with a colossal medical emergency. The World Health Organization was correct stating that we cannot return to normal until health systems can detect, test, isolate, and treat every case and trace every contact.”
As she worked on their orders, the cheesemonger listened.
Sun Tzu snaps at Hippocrates, “If we use WHO’s guidance, the world will never return to normal. There’s no instance of a nation benefitting from prolonged warfare.”
“Both of you make good points,” Adam Smith said. “But, the worst thing is the loss of jobs. By June, New Mexico’s unemployment rate will be over 25 percent. The invisible hand of a free market can resolve the crisis.”
Hippocrates responded, “Mr. Smith, you’re delusional. Your idea will result in massive levels of sickness and death. I agree with Governor Grisham’s orders, but she should make them even more stringent.”
Smith retorted. “The presence of disease kills people, and the absence of livelihood also kills people. Closing businesses, because they are deemed nonessential, is arbitrary and takes away people’s means of support.”
“Smith, you’re moving in the right direction, but your approach works too slowly,” Sun Tze said. “A timid army never won a war.”
“I don’t believe what I’m hearing,” Hippocrates snarled, “Your approach, Tze, will kill 300,000 people.”
Demeaning Hippocrates by mocking his name, Sun Tzu replied, “Hippo, 300,000 deaths are less than the United States sustained in World War II, and less than half the number killed in the Civil War.”
With things getting heated, the men looked to the cheesemonger for help. She said, “Gentlemen, you are seeing the problem through narrow focusing lenses. We face a situation in which the stakes are high and even science-based information is ambiguous. Trade-offs must be made between saving lives and saving livelihoods. To make this judgment call, use the principle of multi-frame superiority. Employ the best ideas from the military, economic, and medical perspectives. Also, consider ethics. Use Aristotle’s doctrine of the mean. Identify the extremes of positions and make a choice that resides close to the middle. Hopefully, Governor Grisham and President Trump will do this. Future generations depend upon it.”
Smith, Zhu, and Hippocrates took their packages and left. They wondered how a simple cheesemonger could out-think them all.